Page 3 of Rescuing Tobias

If only she’d known in that moment what was going to become of her.

Of course, Isabella had assumed she was going to be sold off as a sex slave, given what the men had done to her on that last night.

But that wasn't what had happened.

Instead, she’d been flown somewhere across the world and brought to this building, an old school, and forced to work as a nurse to help an organ trafficking ring.

When she’d first been informed that she was to help them deal with the victims they abducted, putting her skills to use to help the ring remove those poor people’s organs, she had quite literally laughed in their face. Loud and hard, until tears streamed down her cheeks and she could barely breathe.

There was no way she was going to do that, and apparently sensing that, suit woman had ordered her men to break her.

Only that hadn't happened.

Sure, the beatings, starving, sleep deprivation, all with the intent of conditioning her to be their willing little nurse soldier, had sucked. Isabella had chosen to study nursing so she could continue her family’s legacy of being an aid worker. Growing up, she’d traveled the world with her parents, helping impoverished communities. There had never been any doubt in her mind what she’d do when she grew up, and the thing she hated the most was that these people were trying to twist the skills she’d learned to do good in the world, to use for evil instead.

Sometimes, she had no choice but to do their bidding. They’d learned that she was prepared to take any torture they dished out, so long as it was to her and not one of the ring’s victims. If they threatened to withhold painkillers so these unfortunate individuals who had been snatched off the streets and operated on against their will suffered even more, she would cave and temporarily do as they ordered. Usually, she just did her best tooffer what comfort she could, and extra pain medication so that at least these people could breathe a little easier.

Still months later, she waited, prepared for any opportunity she could get to escape. She’d been taking detailed notes, hiding lists of victims’ names, and any guards’ names she could come up with. Lists of medications they used in case that could be tracked. Any observations she hoped might one day help to bring the ring down, even if she wasn't still alive to see it.

The guards had to be sick of her escape attempts by now, she’d made at least a dozen, some more successful than others. But it wasn't like they could go around abducting every nurse on the planet to have workers. They had to make do with what they had, so they continued to try to break her down in the hope that one day it would stick.

Good luck with that.

As she watched the door to the room she shared with a dozen other nurses open, her muscles tensed. She didn't care what the punishment would be if—okay, when—she got caught, she was going to keep trying.

The woman who had pressed the buzzer to alert the guards that she needed to use the bathroom walked to the door, and Isabella shoved off her thin mattress on the floor and followed. The guards gave her a wary look but didn't protest as they led both her and the other nurse to the bathroom. Isabella had lied and told everyone she had a condition that meant she had to urinate frequently, to try to give herself more opportunities to move about and look for ways to escape.

Right as they reached the bathroom, one of the two guards was called away, and because she’d grown reckless enough to take advantage of any opportunity, however small, Isabella bolted for the stairs. It was quiet in the old school, the nurses and doctors locked away for the night, the guards and anyoneelse here willingly were partying in the rooms at the back of the building.

No one stopped her as she ran as fast as her malnourished body would allow down the stairs. A large open space was down there, with corridors on either side leading to the rooms used to house patients and operating rooms.

She was almost to the front door before she heard a shout.

Feet pounded the floor behind her, and she picked up her pace.

Right as her hand circled the doorknob, an arm wrapped around her, yanking her back.

“When you going to give up, little curly?”

“Never,” she answered simply.

They all knew it, and why they hadn't just deemed her more trouble than she was worth and killed her only highlighted how desperate they were for medical personnel.

“I like she don’t give up, mean fun to punish,” another voice spoke, and she shivered despite her bravado.

That guard scared her more than all the others because he loved inventing new and horrific ways to torture her. His chuckle rumbled through the otherwise quiet space as he snatched her out of the other man’s grip, lifting her off the floor and physically throwing her.

She sailed a couple of feet before slamming down again, hitting the floor hard enough that she saw stars. Skin and bones that she was, every single part of her body ached from the impact, and she knew it would leave new bruises on top of older ones.

Laughing as he strolled over to where she lay, panting and trying to remain conscious, the man slammed a foot into her ribs, then grabbed a handful of her hair and dragged her to her feet. His fist slammed into her stomach, shoving all the air out of her, and white dots danced in front of her eyes.

The man who had grabbed her first stood behind his friend, the small black box she hated with a passion in his hand. His gaze met hers and held it as he pressed the buzzer, activating the shock collar around her neck.

Unimaginable pain sparked through her body as her muscles convulsed.

He didn't let up, keeping his thumb on the button that kept the collar delivering shock after agonizing shock.

Despite her best efforts to hold it in, a scream built inside her, the pain needing an outlet.

---